Taking the conversation back to the film itself, ultimately, I have to agree with Amy and Paul. I don’t mind that Chinatown is on the list, it’s a really good movie, but I wouldn’t exactly shed any tears to see it go.
My primary issue with Chinatown is that I don’t really see it breaking any new ground. Or, at least, not in any meaningful way. It kind of reminded me of when comic books take a pre-established superhero and try to make them “edgier” or “more realistic,” but when it really comes down to it, the difference is mostly cosmetic. (I was especially reminded of this when Paul brought up the movie code that said bad guys must always be punished, which sounds an awful lot like the Comics Code.) For me, Chinatown was like Marvel’s MAX line. Like, if Marvel were to do a MAX limited series of Daredevil, they might bring in a top writer and artist, they might make it bloodier, more violent, replace the grawlixes with actual curse words, and show full frontal nudity, but when you get right down to it, it’s still about a blind man with superpowers beating up bad guys. It’s not that the quality would be bad, but it wouldn’t really be doing anything that hasn’t already been done. It’s just kind of “extra” - in the pejorative sense. It’s pretty much bringing the same dish to the table as Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, or The Big Sleep, just slathered in Frank’s Hot Sauce (because Chinatown puts that shit on everything)